


Sweet as the Summer Sun

by avislightwing



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Commitment Arc, Competent Women, F/F, Fluff, Friendship Bracelets, Gen, Martine's Still a Dick, No Angst, Not Beta Read, Rated for Swears, Sing-alongs, This Is Incredibly Self-Indulgent, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also disaster women let's be real here, or very very very minimal angst, the character list for this fic is truly horrendous im sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:30:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14373903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avislightwing/pseuds/avislightwing
Summary: Nadiya Jones would rather have been anywhere in the world, but she's stuck in the Do-Good Fellowship Summer Camp for ten weeks, so she might as well make the best of it.





	Sweet as the Summer Sun

**Author's Note:**

> incredibly self-indulgent and not edited at all! also the fluffy counterpart to make up for the angst fest that That Old Sweet Feeling has turned into, whoops. apologies in advance for any inconsistencies. there's bound to be some.
> 
> ((((canon what canon))))

Nadiya Jones was pissed. She was sweaty, uncomfortable, and overstimulated. She would rather have been anywhere else than here. She’d had her summer all planned out:  she was going to spend all three months working in her lab in the basement of her dad’s house. By the time school started again, she’d have enough data to start writing her kickass, award-winning senior thesis. She’d get published by a major scientific journal before she turned eighteen, get accepted to Harvard, graduate in record time, and have a straight shot to a lifetime tenure.

But no. Instead of being on the path to a successful career, she was on a hot, smelly bus with thirty other kids to the Middle of Nowhere, USA, where she’d had to eat s’mores and sing campfire songs and go on hikes and lose three perfectly good months of thesis prep, just because her dad went and decided to teach a summer course at the University of Amsterdam and believed fifteen was too young to be alone for ten weeks. She _told_ him she could handle it – told him repeatedly – and yet he still insisted on signing her up for her own personal hell.

Summer camp.

“Hi! I’m Remy! What’s your name!”

Nadiya squawked and clutched her duffel bag closer as a boy bounced into the seat next to her. He had dark skin; darker, excited eyes; and still darker curly hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a wide grin and a red hoodie. He was holding a backpack, and enthusiasm was pouring off him in measurable waves.

“Nadiya Jones,” Nadiya said, and squished herself further against the window.

“Aren’t you super excited for camp?” Remy said, excitedly.

Nadiya wasn’t. “I’m not,” she said.

“What? _Why?_ It’s gonna be awesome! There’s gonna be rock climbing, and hikes, and volleyball, and –”

“ – and bugs, and dirt, and outdoor activities,” Nadiya filled in. “No thanks.”

“Why’re ya here, then, if you don’t think you’ll have fun?” Remy asked curiously.

“I was forced to come,” Nadiya said darkly.

Remy visibly drooped. “Oh, dang, that sucks.” After a moment of awkward silence, he turns in his seat and strikes up conversation with the person across the aisle instead.

 _Good,_ Nadiya thought. _Didn’t want to talk to him anyways._

*****

After about another two hours, the bus pulled into a dirt parking lot and the engine shut off. Nadiya looked up from her hands (the fact that she couldn’t even _read_ without getting sick rankled her to no end – she couldn’t even make use of this interminable bus ride) to see someone stand up at the front of the bus. She was holding a clipboard, and Nadiya’s first impression was, overwhelmingly, _orange_.

“Hi, y’all. My name’s Mary Sage, an’ I’m the counselor for Cabin Two as well as the senior counselor ‘cause I’ve been going here since I was born.”

Mary Sage was about seventeen, Nadiya thought, with long curly red-orange hair, freckles, and a terrible sunburn across her nose and cheeks. Nadiya stared, fascinated. How had she managed to get that burned already? They hadn’t even gotten to the camp yet.

“Now I’ll be reading out the cabin assignment for everybody,” Mary Sage continued, shoving a pair of coke-bottle glasses with thick green plastic frames up her nose. “Cabin Two is, uh, Christopher Rembrandt,” Nadiya saw the boy who’d been talking to her earlier perk up, “Irene Baker, and Nadiya Jones. Counselor’ll be Grace Perkins.” Nadiya groaned to herself. _Perfect_. “Cabin Two, Addison, Flanagan, Grey, I’ll be your counselor, like I said. Cabin Three, Jamie, Sylvane, and Litti. Joe Carbinner’s your counselor. Cabin Four is Pridmore, Dagney, and Abbey, Paul Potts is your counselor. And last, Cabin Five is Hugh, Parson and Lid. Your counselor’s gonna be Scully Vanderbilt.”

“You an’ me are together, Nad!” Remy said enthusiastically. “Can I call you Nad? Who’s Irene?”

“That’s me.” A soft, uncertain voice responded, and a short, stout girl with short, mousy brown hair and an uncertain expression steps up to their row. She was wearing tan cargo shorts, a plain blue t-shirt, ankle socks, and worn hiking boots. She had a sturdy-looking backpack slung across one shoulder and a Colorado Rockies baseball cap on her head. She smelled strongly of sunscreen.

Nadiya seriously considered whether a hundred and thirty-three miles was too far to hitchhike. She decided it probably was, and resigned herself to a summer of her own personal hell, staffed by Irene Baker and Christopher Rembrandt. At least their counselor was Grace and not _Joe_. Nadiya had heard him talking to another kid in the row in front of them for the last hour and two words in, she had decided she did not like him at all. Nadiya almost felt bad for Cabin Three. Almost.

“Okay, so, like, in a sec, y’all will follow your counselors to your cabins to get settled,” Mary went on, scratching her head with the end of her pen. “There’s, uh, there’s a mixer – don’t know why the fuck he called it that – tonight, it’s mandatory, in the pavilion. There’ll be s’mores an’ shit, and yours truly will be leading a sing-along, so y’all better show. Also, you’ll get introduced to the cat who runs this joint and his wife. Uhh, spray on that skeeter repellent real good, ‘cause they get pretty bad around dusk. Don’t be an idiot. Wear bug spray.

“All right, that’s it. Your counselors’ll show you to your cabins now. Addison, Flanagan, Grey, you’re with me.”

There was a wave of chatter as everyone stood up and collected their stuff. Remy literally jumped to his feet, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Cabin One, over here!” A girl – she looked a little older than Mary, maybe college-age – with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, a roundish face, and a jean jacket over an off-white t-shirt waved the three of them over. “I’m Grace. Let’s go get settled and get to know each other a bit. Okay? Okay!”

Nadiya groaned and got to her feet, pulling the strap of her duffel bag over her head. It was _not_ enough stuff for ten weeks, but they’d only been allowed to bring one bag or suitcase. There’d better be some good laundry facilities – Nadiya would not be chill with wearing dirty underwear for a month and a half.

She followed Irene and Remy (and Grace) out of the bus, wincing as the dry Colorado air hit her. Irene and Remy were chattering in front of her, and Grace was leading them towards a small log-looking cabin.

She really hoped this wasn’t going to be the rest of the summer.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [@birdiethebibliophile](birdiethebibliophile.tumblr.com)!


End file.
